The Naked Prey (1966)

June 15, 1966

Screen: 'The Naked Prey':Cornel Wilde Is Chased Through the Jungles

By ROBERT ALDEN

Published: June 15, 1966

"THE NAKED PREY" is a poor and tasteless motion-picture entertainment, redeemed somewhat by its authentic African setting and its effective use of tribal drums and native music as the accompaniment for a primitive jungle chase.

A fundamental weakness stems from the fact that its protagonist is barely introduced to the audience. We know him only as the leader of a safari, a kind soul who wants to give trinkets to some tribesmen, but is prevented from doing so by a tight-fisted archvillain, interested only in killing elephants, whether for their ivory or just for the fun of killing.

As it happens, those tribesmen who did not get their trinkets like to kill for sport, too. They set upon the safari one hot African day. The tribesmen skewer some of their party on their spears, lop off the heads of others with their swords. One fellow is plastered with mud and then barbecued over hot coals. Another is trussed up and set before a golden cobra, which, promptly and predictably bites him in the face.

It is disgusting stuff and the wise viewer will get out of the New Embassy Theater even before the chase has begun. But now it does begin. The leader of the safari, Cornel Wilde (the star, producer and director of this film), is stripped of his clothes and shoes and is given a short head start. Then the lion-hunters of the tribe, bearing spears, take after him.

It is a lung-bursting exercise and Mr. Wilde, a swordsman who once was of Olympic caliber, manages to impale a couple of his antagonists on a spear of his own. We also see him hack up a snake and eat its raw meat for sustenance. But he appears to prefer the meat of a giant jungle snail, carved out with his knife.

Interspersed with this coarse action are shots of lions eating antelope, frogs eating other frogs, vultures eating anything that is dead. It is called symbolism. Put a man in the jungle and he becomes a beast. Or, put it another way, it is not the beast that makes the jungle, but rather the jungle that makes the beast.